Metal News for February 20, 2006

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14 news articles posted on this day.

New York heavy metalers Irate have decided to call it quits and released the following statement:

"It is with great sadness that I announce the end of Irate. New York's most brutal band have punished the underground scene for ten years strong having accomplished many great things and having met many great individuals and bands along the way. However, we have reached the end of this wonderful ride and will now go forth to enjoy other endeavors. To anyone who has ever bought a record, bled at a show, jumped on my back, fucked to our records, enjoyed our music, or simply believed, we say thank you. To all our closest friends (you know who you are) we say thank you. To all the crews in NY that have shown us love over the years (IDS, DMS, BDC, CEC and more) we say thank you. We will never forget the good or the bad times and hope to remain a positive part of NYC's underground history. Finally, Irate will not go away without to say goodbye in person.....That is why I am pleased to announce that Irate will play 2 final shows in support of our friends God Forbid. The first show is on 2/23 in New Jersey and our last show will be on 2/25 at "North Six", Brooklyn, NY."

METALLICA and SYSTEM OF A DOWN are strongly rumored to have secured the "headliner" and "special guest" slots at this year's Ozzfest, according to BLABBERMOUTH.NET, citing "industry insiders."

Although no bands have been officially announced for this year's festival, DISTURBED frontman David Draiman revealed during an appearance on the Seattle station 99.9 KISW in January that his band will be appearing on this summer's Ozzfest. Meanwhile, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's booking agent recently told Billboard magazine that Zakk Wylde and Co. have also been confirmed for this year's trek. UNEARTH guitarist Ken Susi told the Alternative Press on Feb. 14 that his band will be one of the rotating headliners on the second stage of Ozzfest 2006, while Jesse Hayes of the Cleveland radio station WMMS 100.7 FM announced last month during his daily "Buzzard Rock Report" segment that BODY COUNT — the heavy metal band fronted by rapper/actor Ice T — will be performing at this year's traveling festival. BLEEDING THROUGH frontman Brandon Schieppati reportedly revealed at the conclusion of the band's performance at Neumo's in Seattle, Washington Sunday night (Feb. 19) that they will be taking part in Ozzfest 2006. Additional offers to play the tour have been extended to AVENGED SEVENFOLD and ATREYU, according to recently published interviews with both artists.

The Ozzfest organizers are expected to announce the official lineup for this year's festival sometime in March.

Downtown Journal Online is reporting that police responded to a call about the apparent overdose of a 22-year-old woman during an AMERICAN HEAD CHARGE concert at the newly reopened Quest nightclub in Minneapolis on February 11. A friend called 911 after the unidentified woman became ill in the restroom. Police and paramedics arrived and medical treatment was given, according to a police report. She was released after a night in the hospital, according to the friend.

The woman did not appear intoxicated when she entered the club, and whatever drug she was on — "something other than alcohol," said her friend — likely had been ingested before entering the club.

"We don't expect every bar to see ... if someone has just ingested some narcotics," said Luther Krueger, crime prevention specialist for the 1st Precinct.

The woman's friend said that, after the incident, a Quest employee was "very upset" that she had called police instead of letting Quest security handle the situation, according to the Downtown Journal Online. She added that the employee told her the club has medically trained staff to deal with such situations.

Ryan — the employee in question — denied that he told the woman she should not have called 911, and that it is not the club's policy to deal with medical emergencies itself, but that Quest security are better equipped than patrons to deal with such situations and direct police and paramedics to victims.

"[The police] would have gotten called," he said, although he questioned if the incident — during which the woman was standing and conscious — constituted an overdose.

APOCALYPTICA have been confirmed for this year's Hurricane Festival, set to take place June 23-25 in Scheessel, Germany. Other acts scheduled to perform include MANU CHAO RADIO BEMBA SOUND SYSTEM, DONAVON FRANKENREITER, ADAM GREEN, HARD-FI, THE HIVES and SIGUR ROS.

APOCALYPTICA's self-titled album was released in January 2005 via Universal. The CD includes a guest appearance by SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo on a song called "Betrayal/Forgiveness". The track, which is described by APOCALYPTICA's Perttu Kivilaakso as a "really fast, thrash metal-influenced song," marks the second time Lombardo has played on an APOCALYPTICA CD, having previously performed on 2003's "Reflections".

FACE DOWN, the reunited Swedish outfit featuring former THE HAUNTED singer Marco Aro, have parted ways with drummer Erik Thyselius. "There's no hard feelings and he will continue to keep playing with CONSTRUCDEAD and TERROR 2000," the band write in a statement. "We wish him the best of luck with all his future endeavors and thank him for his time in the band.

"[Erik's] replacement is well-renowned drummer Christofer Barkensjö (KAAMOS, BLACKSHINE) who will be lending us his skills from now on. Rehearsals are already underway and things are sounding awesome. Welcome to the band! First gig with Chris will be at Club Monster in Gävle on the 10th of March so be sure not to miss out on that."

FACE DOWN entered the Swedish hard rock album chart at position No. 19 with their latest effort, "The Will to Power" back in November 2005. The CD was recorded at Fear and Loathing studio (co-owned by MESHUGGAH and CLAWFINGER) in Spånga, Sweden with engineer/producer Jocke Skog (CLAWFINGER) and was mastered at the Cutting Room. A limited-edition version of "The Will to Power" includes special DVD-box packaging, a specially designed slip-case, an XL version of the booklet, a FACE DOWN sticker, and two bonus tracks not found on the regular CD edition ("My Sacrifice" and "Strife", re-recorded versions).

Former MEGADETH bassist James MacDonough has posted the following message in the "Megadeth Aluni" section of the band's official forum:

"I know some of you are probably thinking,'Wow, he's gone one week and posting in the past members section the next.' It shocked me to be asked, but this is for you guys.

"There is no animosity here, Droogs, just personal differences, and this is all I'll ever say about it.

"I would like to whole-heartedly, and humbly thank you for all your well wishes in the posts, and for the emails. You have no idea how good that makes me feel. I will also keep you updated time to time on what my endeavors are.

"Thanks again, my friends."

MEGADETH recently announced the addition of former BLACK LABEL SOCIETY/WHITE LION bassist James Lomenzo to the group's ranks. Lomenzo joins the band as the replacement for MacDonough, who was officially dismissed from the group on February 10, 2006.

Lomenzo will perform with MEGADETH at their next scheduled live appearance, which is set for March 16 at the Desert Rock 2006 festival in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Metalunderground.com reader, Anthony Viscusi, writes in to report that on February 17, 2006 while playing The Pound in San Francisco, Bleeding Through frontman Brandan Schieppati announced the Bleeding Through will be slated to play Ozzfest 2006. After Bleeding Through's second encore song, Schieppati reportedly said "We'll see you at Ozzfest," just before leaving the stage.

If you attended that show, we'd love to hear some corroborating stories. At this time, nothing has been officially confirmed however.

Lion Music have announced the signing of French band Venturia. Venturia's music is a mix of metal, clean pop-melodies, technical progressive rock and high virtuosity.

Venturia was formed in 2000 by French guitarist Charly Sahona and drummer Diego Rapacchietti, who had already made a name for himself through his great playing with artists like Zero, Paganini and BPM. Charly had previously worked with various French artists and participated on the Shawn Lane tribute record "Shawn Lane Remembered", released on Lion Music. Bass player Thomas James later joined the band and added his versatile talents to Venturia's music. Male vocalist Marc Ferreira is a solo artist from New York who shares vocal lines with Venturia's female vocalist Lydie Robin. The pop/rock-like singing of Marc (reminiscing that of Savage Garden vocalist Darren Hayes) contrasts with the pure, clean and sensual female voice of Lydie Robin, creating a blend of aggressive and melodic vocal duet lines. To complete the line-up, Kevin Codfert (voted best keyboardist of the year 2004 for the magazine "Castle of Pagan" for his playing with the band Adagio) was invited to share the guitar/keyboards parts with Charly on the record. Kevin appears as a guest artist in Venturia.

In 2004 the band began recording the debut album, "The New Kingdom", partly at Artsonik studios in Switzerland with Carryl Montini as producer, and partly at X-fade studios in France under the guiding eyes of Kevin Codfert, who also mixed the album. The mastering of the album took place at House Of Audio in Germany by Jurgen Lusky, and was finalized in August 2005. The album is set for release on Lion Music on April 21st 2005.

After originally parting with their drummer last June, Kylesa have finally found a replacement. Actually, they've found two replacements. Here's a statement from the band:

"Since the dawn of Kylesa, it was our intention to have two drummers but at the time it didn't pan out. Finally, after 5 years it has become a reality and two new members have been added to play drums: Jeff Porter from Detroit and Carl McGinley of Savannah (who also drums for the Unpersons). We feel that this is our strongest line up as of yet and new and old songs are coming along great."

KYLESA wrapped up touring in the US and abroad in support of the band's Prosthetic Records debut, To Walk A Middle Course. After touring alongside the likes of 3 Stages of Pain, Coliseum and Torche, Kylesa has been writing new material for the next record as well as auditioning drummers.

It Dies Today are out with the video to their new single '', a remake of the Depeche Mode hit. The song is featured on the 'Masters Of Horror' Soundtrack. You can watch it online at Trustkill.com in Windows Media or Quicktime formats.

The band recently wrapped up a load of tour dates with Bullet For My Valentine and Still remains. It Dies Today will have their track "Severed Ties Yield Severed Heads" featured on the upcoming "MTV2 Headbangers Ball: The Revenge" two-CD compilation.

Swedish melodic hard rock sensations House Of Shakira have been confirmed for this years Sweden Rock Festival taking place from the 8 to the 10 June 2006 at Sölvesborg, Sweden. The five piece band who have been gathering superb press over the past few years will be playing tracks from their back catalogue along with the possibility of a new material from their next studio album on Lion Music (due Autumn 2006 – tbc).

Lion Music will also release the band's, and label's first DVD on April 21st 2006 entitled "Live At Firefest". Recorded live at the 2005 Firefest in the UK, the DVD presents the bands complete set list from the day along with some very special material from the history of House Of Shakira.

LECHEROUS NOCTURNE, the Greenville, South Carolina-based extreme metal band featuring NILE guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade on drums, have confirmed that Mike Poggione from MONSTROSITY/CAPHARNAUM will be taking up bass duties in the studio and any live shows to support the group's upcoming debut album, "Adoration of the Blade".

Poggione, who is featured in the "Bass Corner" section of the latest issue of Pit Magazine (#53), has been ripping bass in the extreme metal scene for over seven years, starting with EXECRATION and SCAB MAGGOT of Tampa Florida in 1997 and then moving on to MONSTROSITY in 1998. Later in 2002, Mike Poggione was asked to join the prog-tech metal outfit CAPHARNAUM of Orlando and has also toured with new metalcore sensations TRIVIUM as a session bassist.

Poggione will be touring with MONSTROSITY throughout Europe this coming March and April with DEEDS of FLESH as part of the "Triumph In Black" 2006 tour.

LECHEROUS NOCTURNE's debut album, "Adoration of the Blade", will be released late spring via Deepsend Records. The CD was recorded at SoundLab Studio in Columbia, SC and will feature the following track listing:

01. Kampagne02. Release in Flame03. The Divine Wind04. Adoration of the Blade05. Singe Este Viata06. A Path to a Deity07. Phalluscidal08. Whorrified

Last week Boston, MA instru-metalers Tides announced the addition of second guitar player Tim Fickeisen to the band. "The kid worked hard, he learned the songs. He wants to do it...We finally sound like we should" says bassist Donny Green. With the new member also comes the loss of one. Benny Nelson who does electronics and samples will be leaving the band to concentrate more on his solo projects and school.

Tides' second CD, a 3 song, 20 minute EP, entitled "From Silence" will be coming out March 7th on TDB Records and the release show is scheduled for March 11th at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA. Also playing are Gregor Samsa and Apse. The CD was recorded in August 2005 by Ethan Dussault (Cave In, Garrison, We're All Gonna Die) and mastered by Nick Zampiello (The Red Chord, Cave In, Isis) both at New Alliance in Boston.